Source: news.google.com
The Central and Eastern European region has recently seen a rise in web3 companies and startups using blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi) and other web3 technologies to create new and innovative solutions for a wide range of industries.
One of the most exciting areas of web3 in the Western Balkans is the field of decentralized finance (DeFi). DeFi solutions employ blockchain technology to create new financial instruments and platforms that are decentralized (meaning no one person or entity can dismantle or control access) and open to anyone, enabling greater financial inclusion and access to services for those who have historically been excluded from the traditional financial system.
Digital identity is another area where regional Web3 companies are making a big impact. Solutions include the implementation of blockchain technology to create secure, decentralized digital identities that can be used for a wide range of applications, such as online banking or e-commerce.
In this article, we take a look at some of the region’s Web3 startups and companies that are making waves in the industry.
Country: Croatia
Area: block chain
What they do: Shard Labs is an independent blockchain development agency operating out of Zagreb, Croatia, specializing in areas such as blockchain technology development and use cases, custom blockchain development services, and token development. .
The company aims to create digital products that require blockchain implementation, with a focus on automation and continuous software delivery.
One part of the agency is called SpaceShard, which is a blockchain R&D lab working to bring zero-knowledge technology closer to mass adoption. One of the main goals of the lab is to create an incubator and accelerator to help not only existing teams but also new ones to join the space with technical, business and marketing practices.
Country: Greece
Area: web3 infrastructure
What they do: Mysten Labs is a web3 infrastructure company founded in Greece that develops tools that make web3 secure, reliable and ready for mass adoption. Create a foundational infrastructure to accelerate web3 adoption, bringing together the brightest minds in the industry to build infrastructure and tools for a decentralized future for all.
The California-based company was launched in 2021 by five former Meta (Facebook) lead engineers and managers, with two Greek co-founders among its founding team. The company has big plans for Europe, starting with Greece as its main focal point.
“The reason we chose Greece is because two of the two founders are from the country, it’s easier for us to find talent here, we know the universities and where to get this talent from and it made sense to start this process from here and expand. later throughout Europe,” Kostas Chalkias, one of the co-founders of Mysten Labs and its chief cryptographer, told The Recursive. In an interview.
Last year, Mysten Labs raised $300 million in a Series B led by FTX Ventures and reached a valuation of more than $2 billion, with plans to use the last of the funds on the aforementioned expansion and continue to build out the core infrastructure to power the next wave of web3. Applications
Country: Serbian
Area: DeFi
What they do: Decenter is a Serbian-founded R&D center and project incubator that focuses on building products on the Ethereum platform. The company aims to build a more decentralized internet using web3 and blockchain technologies.
Some of his early projects include NFT generative art projects and blockchain gaming. Today, the company is fully focused on DeFi Saver, a web application for managing decentralized finance, or DeFi.
As its flagship product, DeFi Saaver is a starter product that enables management of various DeFi protocols from a single application with advanced and unique features in the DeFi ecosystem. It provides users with a rich set of features such as lending, borrowing, saving, asset leverage and token swapping, as well as 1-click loan refinancing and custom transaction creation by combining multiple actions.
As the company itself noted, “Imagine a world where people can have complete control over their digital identities and data, and a world where bots don’t scan our emails to serve better-targeted ads, and where corporations not control all aspects of our online social lives.”
Country: Bulgaria
Area: block chain
What they do: Quanterall, based in Varna, is a R&D laboratory for software and hardware, specializing in the development of end-to-end custom solutions in functional programming languages with high scalability, fault tolerance and high performance capabilities such as Erlang, Elixir and Haskell.
The company’s core business is developing custom enterprise software, Blockchain solutions, and IoT infrastructure. Quanterall’s technical team consists of 90+ engineers for blockchain, back-end, DevOps, web and mobile, embedded and hardware development.
The company has been active since 2016 with offices in Varna and Sofia, and a global client base ranging from start-ups, scale-ups to industry leaders and sectors such as fintech, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance, logistics, retail, manufacturing. and communication among others.
Country: Romania
Area: block chain
What they do: Beyond Enterprizes is a Romanian-founded strategic blockchain advisory firm, currently present on four continents, and associated with more than 50 blockchain projects, including EOS, Bancor, and HDAC, with a specific focus on insurtech, fintech, and DeFi.
Founded in 2012, the firm has worked on projects that have reached a combined market capitalization of more than $4 billion (as of August 2022), allowing it to expand its capabilities and go beyond strategic consulting and become a full-service 360º partner for strategy, software development, and product and service execution.
The company is also part of the global community of crypto funds and investors under the Blockchain Investors Consortium (BIC).
Country: Bulgaria
Area: DeFi
What they do: Last but not least on our list, Bulgarian-founded DeFi exchange platform ChangeX combines the power of DeFI with compatible CeFI for an immersive experience that allows users to put Crypto, DeFi, and Banking under one roof.
The ChangeX platform focuses on DeFi Composability, which allows economic systems to interact with each other and create synergies to improve the probability of outcomes.
ChangeX co-founders Nick Iliev and Gary Guerassimov have a rich history of developing successful fintech solutions, including xChange.bg, a Bulgarian crypto exchange, while HydraChain and LockTrip co-founders Nikola Alexandrov and Hristo Tenchev, They are also part of the team. They each bring seven years of blockchain experience.
Last year, ChangeX’s initial coin offering (ICO) raised close to $2 million and provided the team with financial backing for the next period of its development.
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